Whispering_Jack

That pink tinge was pretty obvious on Friday night but I suspect it's not going to be an easy one to fix because of our colours. A few people noticed that the red tops worn at the AGM looked the correct red colour in actuality but on the tv monitors around the room they looked pinkish. For years I've been saying that VFL club Port Melbourne's red and blue stripes look pink and blue in distance shots on screens.

What I don't understand is why Sheedy didn't grab the opportunity to take two more mature age recruits when he had the field to himself in the rookie draft at the end of last year? He had the first eight picks but chose only six. I agree with those who believe his better days as a coach have passed him by. That's why he has Choko Williams on board. The problem is that Choko is half crazy too but that doesn't matter because half the object of the exercise is to gather publicity for the franchise. This might help raise the club's profile in Melbourne but I'm not so certain that anyone's listening out at Rooty Hill or that those young blokes in the playing group are going to gel into what's required of a team among the elite of the competition.

Does that mean we're about to experience 41 new panic stricken threads about players about to be poached by Sheedy?

Giants lose narrowly to ACT It's not only bad news but the ABC's short article about the Giants' defeat at the hands of a combined A.C.T side is a little contradictory. It starts off by telling us that the team "lost their first trial yesterday and then informs us that the result "puts the Giants on a 1-1 record, having notched their first victory in a 60-minute practise match against an under 21 Sydney Swans outfit." I suppose that for 8 cents they could have expressed it a bit better but really, if these kids are struggling to beat a scratch team from Canberra, why are they being thrown to the wolves in a NAB Cup fixture next week?

Craig Hutchison has confirmed today in his Sunday Sun column that Tom Scully's manager Mark Kleiman has quit Velocity Sports to take on a producing role at 3AW. This comes just days after Velocity Sports' clarification of the position taken over Scully's contract negotiations. Perhaps, in light of everything that's taken place over the past few weeks and the likelihood that speculation will continue for months and possibly have detrimental effect on player and club, the new manager in charge of his contract and his welfare, might consider a review of strategy taken to date?

True but it's natural. Years ago when I was team manager of an amateur under 19 team, the coach and I had to compile reports on the players. We were always more critical of our better players and gave more encouragement to some of our lesser lights who tried hard. The good thing about Adelaide was that we won both games against teams that have had us on toast over there for a very long time. While nobody fielded anything near their best side, we had the opportunity to give half a dozen players a run in senior ranks. A couple are worth another look in a fortnight's time,

A bit harsh on the Tigers who had nowhere near their best side on the park. Brad Miller is a mature age rookie. The expectations for him at Tigerland won't be too great.

Can't be there to coach the lads but will be there at the start and as long as I can hang around till she who must be obeyed calls me as we have a wedding to go to in the afternoon. Will also bring The Duke back. Cheers

Trouble looming in the McGuire family where Eddie's brother is standing for election in Broadmeadows.

This thead is now closed under the Scully Overkill rule.

The injuries have given seven players the opportunity to make their debuts in senior AFL company. Not all of these players will represent the club on Friday night but a few will:- Sam Blease, Lucas Cook, Michael Evans, Jeremy Howe, Cameron Johnston, Tom McDonald and Daniel Nicholson. That's the exciting thing about Friday night. We can worry about injuries when the season starts.

Now that the issue's been put to bed for the time being (i.e. until next week) I believe it's incumbent upon the AFL to introduce some sanity to the situation by issuing a ruling as to the compensation applicable where any player under the age of 22 years of age is signed by an expansion franchise in the future. I believe the ruling on compensation should be along the lines that where a player under the age of 22 years is contracted to an expansion franchise the player's club may recieve a priority first round selection plus additional selections as appropriate in the cirumstances. In the case of a Tom Scully, Jack Trengove, Dustin Martin etc. this could mean that the first selection in the next draft would go to their club. In practical terms this would mean that if Tom Scully were to be taken by GWS at the end of the year, Melbourne would possibly get pick 1 in the draft (most likely Stephen Coniglio, the player who kicked 4 goals in the WAFL Grand Final at age 16) and another draft pick. This compensation would be greater than what Geelong received for Gary Ablett Junior but Gary is around midway through his playing career whereas Tom, Jack and Dustin are at the start of theirs. With GWS facing the possibility of losing a first pick to gain a first pick they might concentrate on getting more mature players which is what Gold Coast did last year. For Eddie's benefit, the might turn their attention to the likes of Swan, Pendlebury or Thomas (if they haven't already signed up one of them ) Naturally, I think Tom Scully will not want to go anywhere at the end of the year and he will stay at Melbourne anyway and I think there are plenty of good reasons why he should be doing exactly that.

I think that's the point Alpha's making in the OP.

Yes - especially since it's about two and a half weeks since the original diagnosis of 10 - 12 weeks and the time expected out hasn't changed. What if it's 10 - 12 weeks next time?

Hey Wolfmother, could you please clarify whether the direction came from the Melbourne FD or the Greater Western Sydney FD? Only joking

Hi I'va. At one stage yesterday there were four Tom Scully to GWS threads operating at once. We felt that this was way over the top - one thread was becoming a vehicle for abuse, another was repetitious and yet another had just about run its course. The decision was made after a reasonable amount of deliberation but really, the situation with four threads on what was more or the less the same subject matter was just too much. To enable those who still wanted to discuss the situation, we left one open. Bear in mind, one is probably too much given that the situation with Tom may not be resolved for 6-8 months. Sorry, but the way things are going with this thread, it might not be open much longer.

Topic closed until further notice. There's one thread available for the Scully tragics and masochists. Please go here if you are that way inclined.

I think it's time to put this thread in lockdown mode and leave only one Tom Scully thread running for the time being. Sorry, but the saga's already getting tedious, it's only into the first week and the decision won't be made for another 30 weeks. There's still one thread there for the tragics and masochists. Please go here if you are that way inclined. The rest can choose to ignore it. Thanks people.

Kelvin Lawrence is a cousin to Neville Jetta and comes from near Bunbury WA, the home of both Jetta and Jamie Bennell.

Good question and one that was partly covered by a few of the speakers at the AGM. Most years, teams lose players through retirement or to other clubs and, in our case, we lost two who have been great for us in the past but they were on the decline in 2010 even though they were among our better contributors. IMO they won't be leaving much of a void as long as we aren't monstered by injuries. The slack will be picked up by several players who had injury interrupted seasons - Liam Jurrah, Cale Morton, Ricky Petterd and Austin Wonaeamirri are four who come to mind. Further, because we have a team with plenty of young emerging players who are at the stage where we can expect rapid improvement, any deficiencies in losing Junior and Cam Bruce should be covered. We'll miss them and their leadership but their time was up and we have the material with which to fill their shoes. That's exactly why I'm really looking forward to tomorrow and not looking back to the yesterdays when a different generation represented the club.

Why thanks jayceebee31. I always try to inject a bit of humour into everything I write but I'm deadly serious on Martin. I meant it in the context of who would be the better back up ruckman to take about 30% of the ruckwork at times in a game when Jamar is resting. I'm also basing my opinion on the fact that the back up ruckman will also have a secondary role either deep up forward or down back when not called upon to do the ruckwork. I'm not rapt in Martin as a forward so much but I really like him as a defender. If other clubs are going to play a tall as back up ruck (e.g Hale at Hawthorn), Martin will come in handy. Lynden Dunn could also do some ruckwork and change with Jamar up forward. In that context, it's still to early for Jake Spencer in such a role. If Jamar was injured, Spencer could fill his shoes as the main ruckman but we'd obviously be losing a lot. Hopefully, Robert Campbell will also be right for early in the season.

Well, I reckon tweet # 1 has to be about the incident in his first game when those three Collingwood blokes tried to monster him. Hopefully, he'll include some good footy stuff in his tweets in addition to what we learn from run of the mill AFL twitterers like what they had for breakfast and what game they're playing on Play Station.

I don't think it's in my place to censor anyone's views simply because I don't agree with them. I think it's fairly obvious that most Melbourne fans (and those of many other clubs) would want Tom to remain at the club. I've never liked the GWS rules on this issue and don't believe 19 year olds should even be put into the position he's in but they're the rules and we have to live with them.

D'oh. My bad. I was going to include Maric in that group of players with Jetta, Strauss and Bail who I think have the opportunity now to step up and consolidate their careers. His disposal issues have me even more mystified. At under 18 level and even in his first season when at Sandy he was pretty good. If Maric can get on top of that part of his game, he could become an AFL regular.

A few highlights from the 1971 Yearbook: We opened the season at the MCG against the Swans (then known as South Melbourne). Score: Melbourne 24.21.165 defeated South Melbourne 7.18.60. I'm prepared to cop a similar result forty years down the track in round one. Tallest player on the list was "Crackers" Keenan at 6'5". We also had Glenn Honey at 6'4" but he didn't get to play a game. Smallest was Paul Callery at 5'5" who was runner up in the B & F. Trophy Winners were - Seniors: 1st Greg Wells (Keith "Bluey" Truscott Memorial Trophy) 2nd Paul Callery (Sid Anderson Memorial Trophy) 3rd Frank Davis (Ron Barassi Memorial Trophy) Tony Sullivan (Special Trophy in memory of Ivor Warne-Smith) Outstanding Service - Peter Keenan, Graham Molloy & Gary Hardeman Most Improved - Ray Biffin Bruce Brown won the Gardiner Medal (VFL reserves) and the club reserves B & F. He was the son of famous Herald sports journalist Alf Brown. The Under 19 team won the premiership beating Essendon 18.15.123 to 16.14.110. Looking at the team photo, quite a few members of the team went on to play AFL. Ross Brewer (121 games, 196 goals - later with Collingwood and Richmond), John Cumming (4 games, 0 goals), Peter Dilnot (5 games, 3 goals), Geoff Harrold (2 games, 0 goals), Stephen Kerley (43 games, 3 goals and a terrific player who left too early to play in SA), Ian McGuinness (2 games, 1 goal), Kevin Moore (8 games, 1 goal), Laurie Queay (2 games, 2 goals), the late Kim Smith (4 games, 3 goals who later became a VFA legend) and Peter Williamson (27 games, 16 goals). My favourite picture from the annual report is the team photograph of the Under 17s who won the flag in the Metropolitan League beating Port Melbourne 12.4.76 to 8.14.62. Robert Flower was in the team but didn't play that year because of clearance issues so he acted as team runner and won the Best Clubman award. He was best and fairest in the Under 17s in the following year. The only other player from the team to make the seniors at Melbourne was Neil Chamberlain (17 games, 10 goals) who also won the Gardiner Medal in 1975. Flower started in the seniors in 1973 and played what was then a record 272 games (179 goals) by the time he retired in 1987. One of the obituaries was E. C. H. "Bully" Taylor, a former Committe member, an originator of the "coterie", club historian and Match Committee member. He was also a master and coach at Melbourne Grammar School. I could go on but I've just written about looking forward, not back so that's enough of 1971 from me ... for now.